Freed British fighter admits he did not think he would survive captivity

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

One of five Britons released from captivity by Russian-backed forces has said he did not believe he would survive the ordeal.

Aiden Aslin, who landed in Britain early on Thursday after being set free the day before, told The Sun he was beaten, stabbed and forced to listen to Soviet songs in a small cell 24-hours a day. “I never thought I’d get out alive,” he told the paper. READ MORE: Andy Burnham blasts Tory mini-budget a ‘flagrant act of vandalism' The Notts-born 28-year-old had been living in Ukraine for a number of years and was serving with its regular forces when the full-scale war broke out.

His battalion ran out of food and ammunition during the siege of Mariupol in April, with the fighter phoning his mother and Ukrainian girlfriend before they surrendered to say: “No matter what, I will see you again.” He was punched in the face when his captors realised he was British, Mr Aslin told the paper. “They flicked through my passport and quickly realised it wasn’t Ukrainian. “The soldier asked in Russian, ‘Where are you from?’ I told him I was from Great Britain and he punched me in the face. “They separated me from the others and began interviewing me in the back of an armoured vehicle. “I went to my commander and said, ‘Look I’m going to be taken, they’re probably going to kill me, I need you to tell my family when you get out, if you get out, that I love them’.” He was taken to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, where he was beaten during an interrogation prior to the Russian-backed forces announcing his capture to the world.

He told The Sun of the beating: “The officer was smoking a cigarette and knelt down in front of me to ask, ‘Do you know who I am?’ I said ‘no’ and he replied in Russian, ‘I am